Ribs and Honeybun Cake at Smokin’ A’s

Several of my friends and I have an ongoing argument about a popular fast food menu item. For the sake of not being sued out of existence, I’ll call it the “O’Rib Sandwich.” Everyone gets excited when the O’Rib “comes back,” but it seems to “come back” about six times each year. Like an Uncle who only lives a couple of hours away, you see the O’Rib six or seven times a year and maybe that’s three or four times too many. To each his own, but there is honestly no reason to eat processed rib-style food product when you live at the corner of Louisiana and Texas. Smokin’ A’s is a new smokehouse located at 303 E. King’s Hwy. in Shreveport. Proprietor and chef Anthony Montgomery specializes in “slow smoked meats,” including chicken, pork, turkey, brisket and fish. Wishing to avoid “the Itis,” I had a small rib plate ($6.99) with dirty rice and potato salad, all of which were very good.

The highlight of my visit was an unexpected dessert item: fresh-baked Honeybun cake, baked by Mr. Smokin’ himself. $2.25 gets you a generous serving of rich yellow cake topped with honeybun-style icing. Mr. Montgomery had just baked the cake from which I was served, and when he pulled out the sheet cake to cut my slice, the sight of it immediately sold two more slices. One more reason to eat real, actual ribs. As if I needed more convincing.